1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of credit card security. More particularly, the present invention relates to a simplified method and apparatus for providing credit card security. Most particularly, the present invention relates to a credit card or debit card having a first group of numbers or symbols which identify a user, and a second group of numbers or symbols, which may be different from the first group of numbers or symbols, and which represent information known only to the cardholder. The information known only to the user is not placed, or encoded, on the secure credit card in any way, so that it cannot be used in credit card theft and/or fraud.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Credit cards, and more recently debit cards, have been in use in the United States and around the world. The unauthorized or fraudulent use of such credit or debit cards for goods and services has been with the credit card and bankcard industry ever since the inception of the credit or debit card. Much of the problem of fraudulent use of such cards is due to the fact that all the information on the front of the credit card has also been contained on one or more magnetic stripes having one or more, but typically three, tracks for storing all the personal and credit card information.
This is convenient for present day card reading systems, but can be decoded rather easily by one wishing to practice credit card fraud. Consequently, it is easy to use this information to create illegally any number of credit cards containing the user's personal information. Many solutions have been offered to solve the problem of credit card and bankcard fraud and theft, and all of them are becoming more and more complicated, and require completely revamping or replacing existing magnetic card readers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,816 to Pavlov, et al. shows a unitary self-contained card which does not require interaction with a fixed terminal device to prevent monitoring of confidential information contained with the card personal identification number (“PIN”). The unitary self-contained card has the ability to verify a PIN, which is entered directly into the card by way of a keyboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,376 to Lessin, et al., shows an intelligent, portable, interactive personal data system having a microprocessor with memory contained in the credit card housing. An alphanumeric keypad and display is located on a surface of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,416 to Grant, et al., shows an authorization card, such as a credit card, having a security feature. The authorization card generally has two operational states, a disabled state and enabled state. In the disabled state, which is the default mode of operation, access to confidential information stored on the card is denied. The card remains in the disabled state until a PIN code is entered on a keypad provided on the card. Once the card is enabled, access to the confidential information is permitted for a predetermined period of time.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,486 B1 to Tiecher, et al., shows a smart card having a microprocessor contained within the card, with the user's PIN entered directly into the smart card and authenticated directly by the smart card itself, and not propagated outside the smart card.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,811,082 B2 to Wong describes a novel bridge device to link the world of smart cards to that of magnetic finance cards.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,816,058 B2 to MacGregor, et al. shows a card where a biometric sensor device is integrated into the credit card or debit card.
All of the above devices decrease the possibility of fraudulent debit or credit card use, but certainly do not eliminate it, because they all use electronic devices which can be decoded by one intent on credit card fraud. They are also relatively expensive. The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,486 B1 discusses in detail the security problems of so-called “smart” cards.